Today was my first day at JO Magazine (www.jo.jo/test). So far so good: I’ve been assigned to work long-term on an article about the meat industry in Jordan, and hopefully in the shorter term I’ll get to write smaller pieces. My desk overlooks central Amman, a not-very-pretty landscape of apartment buildings strewn with satellite dishes and clotheslines. I hear the muezzin calling people to prayer and every once in awhile what sounds like an ice cream truck passes by.
Just a handful of people work here full-time, and the rest are freelancers, so the office is empty and quiet. Below are some pictures of downtown, which I took when a group of us went to East Amman. We spent the whole afternoon there, aiming to eventually see the Roman ruins, especially the amphitheatre, but we only really made it to the Nymphaeum. The day was great though–we ate at two of downtown’s most famous places, Hashem’s (which has amazing tea) and Habibeh, where a few of us shared a kunafeh, a Lebanese dish of fried cheese and shredded wheat–unbelievable.
The Nymphaeum
Also, funny story: we saw a girl (American, of course) showing MIDRIFF downtown, which is definitely not the place you want to be showing skin in Amman, if at all. It’s crazy how quickly your standards change–me and the three girls I was with talked about it for like five minutes, partly because it was such a shock to see any skin at all, and partly noticing how much more (negative) attention she got than the other Americans she was with.
–June
Traveling Light 
We have all (Hussein, Reza, Laila, and I) been sitting around the computer this morning reading your blog. Very interesting! Ironic that you are writing about the meat industry.
I think we have convinced Reza to keep a journal as a present to me when he goes to Iran.
He got your postcard 4 days ago.
We will all keep reading.
Pati